116-660: The Jat people , also spelt Jaat and Jatt , are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan . Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river -valley of Sindh , many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subsequently into the Delhi Territory , northeastern Rajputana , and the western Gangetic Plain in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of Hindu , Muslim and Sikh faiths, they are now found mostly in
232-810: A lord of the manor with a Roman Catholic church and priest. Thanks to the exchange with the Al-Andalus where the Arab Agricultural Revolution was underway, European agriculture transformed, with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees (such as the orange). After 1492, the Columbian exchange brought New World crops such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes , and manioc to Europe, and Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips , and livestock (including horses, cattle, sheep and goats) to
348-470: A combination of labor supply and labor demand trends have driven down the share of population employed in agriculture. During the 16th century in Europe, between 55 and 75% of the population was engaged in agriculture; by the 19th century, this had dropped to between 35 and 65%. In the same countries today, the figure is less than 10%. At the start of the 21st century, some one billion people, or over 1/3 of
464-593: A continent". Its use to signify the Indian subcontinent is evidenced from the early twentieth century when most of the territory was either part of the British Empire or allied with them. It was a convenient term to refer to the region comprising both British India and the princely states . The term has been particularly common in the British Empire and its successors, while the term South Asia
580-758: A fertilizer for crops. Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia , mostly situated on the Indian Plate , projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas . Geographically, it spans the countries of Bangladesh , Bhutan , the British Indian Ocean Territory (United Kingdom), India , Maldives , Nepal , Pakistan , and Sri Lanka . Although
696-575: A garden palace at nearby Deeg . According to historian, Eric Stokes , When the power of the Bharatpur raja was riding high, fighting clans of Jats encroached into the Karnal/Panipat, Mathura, Agra, and Aligarh districts, usually at the expense of Rajput groups. But such a political umbrella was too fragile and short-lived for substantial displacement to be effected. When Arabs entered Sindh and other Southern regions of current Pakistan in
812-664: A hazardous industry, and farmers worldwide remain at high risk of work-related injuries, lung disease, noise-induced hearing loss , skin diseases, as well as certain cancers related to chemical use and prolonged sun exposure. On industrialized farms , injuries frequently involve the use of agricultural machinery , and a common cause of fatal agricultural injuries in developed countries is tractor rollovers . Pesticides and other chemicals used in farming can be hazardous to worker health , and workers exposed to pesticides may experience illness or have children with birth defects. As an industry in which families commonly share in work and live on
928-444: A high use of inputs (water, fertilizer, pesticide and automation). It is practiced mainly in developed countries. From the twentieth century onwards, intensive agriculture increased crop productivity. It substituted synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for labor, but caused increased water pollution, and often involved farm subsidies. Soil degradation and diseases such as stem rust are major concerns globally; approximately 40% of
1044-521: A part of South Asia, is usually not included in the Indian subcontinent. Maldives, an island country consisting of a small archipelago southwest of the peninsula, while largely considered a part of the Indian subcontinent, sometimes is mentioned by sources, including the International Monetary Fund , as a group of islands away from the Indian subcontinent in a south-western direction. The population of Indian subcontinent
1160-447: A positive note, the gender gap in access to mobile internet in low- and middle-income countries fell from 25 percent to 16 percent between 2017 and 2021, and the gender gap in access to bank accounts narrowed from 9 to 6 percentage points. Women are as likely as men to adopt new technologies when the necessary enabling factors are put in place and they have equal access to complementary resources. Agriculture, specifically farming, remains
1276-572: A practice which is called Jathera. There are conflicting scholarly views regarding the varna status of Jats in Hinduism. Historian Satish Chandra describes the varna of Jats as "ambivalent" during the medieval era. Historian Irfan Habib states that the Jats were a "pastoral Chandala-like tribe" in Sindh during the eighth century. Their 11th-century status of Shudra varna changed to Vaishya varna by
SECTION 10
#17327657225441392-415: A river or a no man's land . The precise definition of an "Indian subcontinent" in a geopolitical context is somewhat contested as there is no globally accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. Whether called the Indian subcontinent or South Asia, the definition of the geographical extent of this region varies. Afghanistan , despite often considered as
1508-404: A significant decrease in genetic diversity and resources among livestock breeds, leading to a corresponding decrease in disease resistance and local adaptations previously found among traditional breeds. Grassland based livestock production relies upon plant material such as shrubland , rangeland , and pastures for feeding ruminant animals. Outside nutrient inputs may be used, however manure
1624-492: A small area of forest is cleared by cutting and burning the trees. The cleared land is used for growing crops for a few years until the soil becomes too infertile, and the area is abandoned. Another patch of land is selected and the process is repeated. This type of farming is practiced mainly in areas with abundant rainfall where the forest regenerates quickly. This practice is used in Northeast India, Southeast Asia, and
1740-552: A year, or requiring irrigation. In all of these environments perennial crops are grown (coffee, chocolate) and systems are practiced such as agroforestry . In temperate environments, where ecosystems were predominantly grassland or prairie , highly productive annual farming is the dominant agricultural system. Important categories of food crops include cereals, legumes, forage, fruits and vegetables. Natural fibers include cotton, wool , hemp , silk and flax . Specific crops are cultivated in distinct growing regions throughout
1856-473: A yearly summit to discuss safety. Overall production varies by country as listed. The twenty largest countries by agricultural output (in nominal terms) at peak level as of 2018, according to the IMF and CIA World Factbook . Cropping systems vary among farms depending on the available resources and constraints; geography and climate of the farm; government policy; economic, social and political pressures; and
1972-584: Is a hybrid of a Chilean and a North American species, developed by breeding in Europe and North America. The indigenous people of the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest practiced forest gardening and fire-stick farming . The natives controlled fire on a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology that sustained a low-density agriculture in loose rotation; a sort of "wild" permaculture . A system of companion planting called
2088-481: Is an indivisible geographical entity." According to geographer Dudley Stamp , "There is perhaps no mainland part of the world better marked off by nature as a region or a 'realm' by itself than the Indian subcontinent." This natural physical landmass in South Asia is the dry-land portion of the Indian Plate , which has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia. The Himalayas (from Brahmaputra River in
2204-626: Is both a cause of and sensitive to environmental degradation , such as biodiversity loss , desertification , soil degradation , and climate change , all of which can cause decreases in crop yield. Genetically modified organisms are widely used, although some countries ban them . The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra , from ager 'field' and cultūra ' cultivation ' or 'growing'. While agriculture usually refers to human activities, certain species of ant , termite and beetle have been cultivating crops for up to 60 million years. Agriculture
2320-451: Is celebrated every year all around the world. The Jats are a paradigmatic example of community- and identity-formation in early modern Indian subcontinent . "Jat" is an elastic label applied to a wide-ranging community from simple landowning peasants to wealthy and influential Zamindars . A female Jat is often known as Jatni . By the time of Muhammad bin Qasim 's conquest of Sind in
2436-444: Is defined with varying scopes, in its broadest sense using natural resources to "produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops, and their related services". Thus defined, it includes arable farming , horticulture, animal husbandry and forestry , but horticulture and forestry are in practice often excluded. It may also be broadly decomposed into plant agriculture , which concerns
SECTION 20
#17327657225442552-470: Is given to women in comparison to men. The birth of a male child in a family is celebrated and is considered auspicious, while the reaction to the birth of a female child is more subdued. In villages, female members are supposed to get married at a younger age and they are expected to work in fields as subordinate to the male members. There is general bias against education for the female child in society, though trends are changing with urbanisation. Purdah system
2668-838: Is practiced by women in Jat villages which act as hindrance to their overall emancipation. The village Jat councils which are male-dominated mostly don't allow female members to head their councils as the common opinion on it is that women are inferior, incapable and less intelligent to men. The Jat people are subdivided into numerous clans, some of which overlap with the Ror , Arain , Rajput and other groups. Hindu and Sikh Jats practice clan exogamy . Jats are part of Punjabi and Haryanvi culture and are often portrayed in Indian and Pakistani films and songs. Agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture , and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture
2784-438: Is returned directly to the grassland as a major nutrient source. This system is particularly important in areas where crop production is not feasible because of climate or soil, representing 30–40 million pastoralists. Mixed production systems use grassland, fodder crops and grain feed crops as feed for ruminant and monogastric (one stomach; mainly chickens and pigs) livestock. Manure is typically recycled in mixed systems as
2900-430: Is the more common usage in Europe and North America. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal , the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance". Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term South Asia is becoming more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia. While South Asia , a more accurate term that reflects
3016-712: Is the only subregion of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere : the British Indian Ocean Territory two of the 26 atolls of the Maldives lie entirely within the Southern Hemisphere. Historically, the region surrounding and southeast of the Indus River was often simply referred to as "India" in many historical sources. Even today, historians use this term to denote the entire Indian subcontinent when discussing history up until
3132-694: The Eocene , forming the Indian subcontinent. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains geologically active, prone to major earthquakes. Physiographically , it is a peninsular region in South Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east. It extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to
3248-753: The Hindu Kush in the west, and the Indo-Burman Ranges in the east. The neighboring geographical regions around the subcontinent include the Tibetan Plateau to the north, the Indochinese Peninsula to the east, the Iranian Plateau to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south. Apart from Maritime Southeast Asia (the Malay Archipelago ), the maritime region of the subcontinent ( littoral South Asia )
3364-772: The Indian Army , including the Jat Regiment , Sikh Regiment , Rajputana Rifles and the Grenadiers , where they have won many of the highest military awards for gallantry and bravery. Jat people also serve in the Pakistan Army especially in the Punjab Regiment . The Jat people were designated by officials of the British Raj as a " martial race ", which meant that they were one of the groups whom
3480-500: The Indus Valley civilization . In China, from the 5th century BC, there was a nationwide granary system and widespread silk farming . Water-powered grain mills were in use by the 1st century BC, followed by irrigation. By the late 2nd century, heavy ploughs had been developed with iron ploughshares and mouldboards . These spread westwards across Eurasia. Asian rice was domesticated 8,200–13,500 years ago – depending on
3596-562: The Indus valley , and gradually became agriculturalist farmers. Around 1595, Jat Zamindars controlled a little over 32% of the Zamindaris in the Punjab region. According to historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot, The Jats also provide an important insight into how religious identities evolved during the precolonial era. Before they settled in the Punjab and other northern regions,
Jats - Misplaced Pages Continue
3712-870: The Pakistani Punjab and Pakistan in general. Jat communities also exist in Pakistani-administered Kashmir , in Sindh, particularly the Indus delta and among Seraiki -speaking communities in southern Pakistani Punjab, the Kachhi region of Balochistan and the Dera Ismail Khan District of the North West Frontier Province . In Pakistan also, Jat people have become notable political leaders, like Hina Rabbani Khar . Many Jat people serve in
3828-583: The Paleolithic , after 10,000 BC. Staple food crops were grains such as wheat and barley, alongside industrial crops such as flax and papyrus . In India , wheat, barley and jujube were domesticated by 9,000 BC, soon followed by sheep and goats. Cattle, sheep and goats were domesticated in Mehrgarh culture by 8,000–6,000 BC. Cotton was cultivated by the 5th–4th millennium BC. Archeological evidence indicates an animal-drawn plough from 2,500 BC in
3944-514: The Tigris and Euphrates rivers and a canal system for irrigation. Ploughs appear in pictographs around 3,000 BC; seed-ploughs around 2,300 BC. Farmers grew wheat, barley, vegetables such as lentils and onions, and fruits including dates, grapes, and figs. Ancient Egyptian agriculture relied on the Nile River and its seasonal flooding. Farming started in the predynastic period at the end of
4060-619: The community-funded completion of the Darbar Sahib to house the Guru Granth Sahib and serve as a rallying point and center for Sikh activity, established the beginnings of a self-contained Sikh community, which was especially swelled with the region's Jat peasantry. They formed the vanguard of Sikh resistance against the Mughal Empire from the 18th century onwards. It has been postulated, though inconclusively, that
4176-630: The molecular clock estimate that is used – on the Pearl River in southern China with a single genetic origin from the wild rice Oryza rufipogon . In Greece and Rome , the major cereals were wheat, emmer, and barley, alongside vegetables including peas, beans, and olives. Sheep and goats were kept mainly for dairy products. In the Americas, crops domesticated in Mesoamerica (apart from teosinte) include squash, beans, and cacao . Cocoa
4292-548: The organic movement . Unsustainable farming practices in North America led to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Pastoralism involves managing domesticated animals. In nomadic pastoralism , herds of livestock are moved from place to place in search of pasture, fodder, and water. This type of farming is practiced in arid and semi-arid regions of Sahara , Central Asia and some parts of India. In shifting cultivation ,
4408-527: The spread of Buddhism out of the subcontinent into other parts of Asia. The Islamic expansion arrived into the subcontinent in two ways: through Afghanistan on land, and to the Indian coast through the maritime routes on the Arabian Sea. In terms of modern geopolitical boundaries, the subcontinent constitutes Bangladesh , Bhutan , India, Nepal , and Pakistan , besides, by convention, the island country of Sri Lanka and other nearby island nations of
4524-740: The states of Patiala , Faridkot , Jind , and Nabha were ruled by the Sikh Jats. According to anthropologist Sunil K. Khanna, Jat population is estimated to be around 30 million (or 3 crore ) in South Asia in 2010. This estimation is based on statistics of the last caste census and the population growth of the region. The last caste census was conducted in 1931, which estimated Jats to be 8 million, mostly concentrated in India and Pakistan. Deryck O. Lodrick estimates Jat population to be over 33 million (around 12 million and over 21 million in India and Pakistan, respectively) in South Asia in 2009 while noting
4640-635: The supercontinent of Gondwana during the Cretaceous and merged with the landmass of Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, forming the Himalayas. It is one of the most populated regions in the world, holding roughly 20–25 percent of the global population. Geographically, the peninsular region in Southern Asia is located below the Third Pole , delineated by the Himalayas in the north,
4756-525: The 17th century, with some of them aspiring to improve it further after their 17th-century rebellion against the Mughals. He cites Al-Biruni and Dabistan-i Mazahib to support the claims of Shudra and Vashiya varna respectively. The Rajputs refused to accept Jat claims to Kshatriya status during the later years of the British Raj and this disagreement frequently resulted in violent incidents between
Jats - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-540: The Amazon Basin. Subsistence farming is practiced to satisfy family or local needs alone, with little left over for transport elsewhere. It is intensively practiced in Monsoon Asia and South-East Asia. An estimated 2.5 billion subsistence farmers worked in 2018, cultivating about 60% of the earth's arable land . Intensive farming is cultivation to maximize productivity, with a low fallow ratio and
4988-560: The Americas. Irrigation , crop rotation , and fertilizers advanced from the 17th century with the British Agricultural Revolution , allowing global population to rise significantly. Since 1900, agriculture in developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large rises in productivity as mechanization replaces human labor, and assisted by synthetic fertilizers , pesticides, and selective breeding . The Haber-Bosch method allowed
5104-615: The British favoured for recruitment to the British Indian Army . This was a designation created by administrators that classified each ethnic group as either "martial" or "non-martial": a "martial race" was typically considered brave and well built for fighting, whilst the remainder were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles. However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking
5220-450: The Indian Ocean, such as Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory . Unlike "South Asia", sometimes the expression "Indian subcontinent" may exclude the islands of Maldives and Sri Lanka. According to Pawan Budhwar, Arup Varma, and Manjusha Hirekhan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan constitute the Indian subcontinent. Budhwar, Varma, and Hirekhan also maintain that with Afghanistan and Maldives included
5336-708: The Indian Plate over the Réunion hotspot during the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic times. The Maldives archipelago rises from a basement of volcanic basalt outpourings from a depth of about 2000 m forming the central part of the ridge between Laccadives and the Great Chagos Bank . According to anthropologist Patrap C. Dutta, "the Indian subcontinent occupies the major landmass of South Asia." According to historian B. N. Mukherjee , "The subcontinent
5452-592: The Indian states of Punjab , Haryana , Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and the Pakistani regions of Sindh , Punjab and AJK . The Jats took up arms against the Mughal Empire during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Gokula , a Hindu Jat landlord was among the earliest rebel leaders who fought against the Mughal rule during Aurangzeb 's era. The Hindu Jat kingdom reached its zenith under Maharaja Suraj Mal (1707–1763). The community played an important role in
5568-509: The Jats of Rajasthan – excluding those of Bharatpur district and Dholpur district – are entitled to reservation of central government jobs under the OBC reservation. In 2016, the Jats of Haryana organized massive protests demanding to be classified as OBC in order to obtain such affirmative action benefits. Many Jat Muslim people live in Pakistan and have dominant roles in public life in
5684-586: The Paleolithic Levant, 23,000 years ago, cereals cultivation of emmer , barley , and oats has been observed near the sea of Galilee. Rice was domesticated in China between 11,500 and 6,200 BC with the earliest known cultivation from 5,700 BC, followed by mung , soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. Cattle were domesticated from
5800-486: The Three Sisters was developed in North America. The three crops were winter squash , maize, and climbing beans. Indigenous Australians , long supposed to have been nomadic hunter-gatherers , practiced systematic burning, possibly to enhance natural productivity in fire-stick farming. Scholars have pointed out that hunter-gatherers need a productive environment to support gathering without cultivation. Because
5916-793: The United Nations (FAO) posits that the roles and responsibilities of women in agriculture may be changing – for example, from subsistence farming to wage employment, and from contributing household members to primary producers in the context of male-out-migration. In general, women account for a greater share of agricultural employment at lower levels of economic development, as inadequate education, limited access to basic infrastructure and markets, high unpaid work burden and poor rural employment opportunities outside agriculture severely limit women's opportunities for off-farm work. Women who work in agricultural production tend to do so under highly unfavorable conditions. They tend to be concentrated in
SECTION 50
#17327657225446032-524: The United States is roughly 1.7 times more productive than it was in 1948. Agriculture employed 873 million people in 2021, or 27% of the global workforce, compared with 1 027 million (or 40%) in 2000. The share of agriculture in global GDP was stable at around 4% since 2000–2023. Despite increases in agricultural production and productivity, between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. Food insecurity and malnutrition can be
6148-544: The annual work-related death toll among agricultural employees is at least 170,000, twice the average rate of other jobs. In addition, incidences of death, injury and illness related to agricultural activities often go unreported. The organization has developed the Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention, 2001 , which covers the range of risks in the agriculture occupation, the prevention of these risks and
6264-524: The army because the administration believed Hindus to be inferior for military purposes. The Indian Army admitted in 2013 that the 150-strong Presidential Bodyguard comprises only people who are Hindu Jats, Jat Sikhs and Hindu Rajputs. Refuting claims of discrimination, it said that this was for "functional" reasons rather than selection based on caste or religion. Deryck O. Lodrick estimates religion-wise break-up of Jats as follows: 47% Hindus, 33% Muslims, and 20% Sikhs. Jats pray to their dead ancestors ,
6380-553: The available work force, were employed in agriculture. This constitutes approximately 70% of the global employment of children, and in many countries constitutes the largest percentage of women of any industry. The service sector overtook the agricultural sector as the largest global employer in 2007. In many developed countries, immigrants help fill labor shortages in high-value agriculture activities that are difficult to mechanize. Foreign farm workers from mostly Eastern Europe, North Africa and South Asia constituted around one-third of
6496-409: The border (between the Sulaiman Range and the Chaman Fault) is the western boundary of the Indian Plate, where, along the Eastern Hindu Kush, lies the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. In the east, it is bounded by Patkai , Naga , Lushai and Chin hills. The Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea form the boundary of the Indian subcontinent in the south, south-east and south-west. Given
6612-423: The central west coast and eastern central, early farmers cultivated yams, native millet, and bush onions, possibly in permanent settlements. In the Middle Ages , compared to the Roman period , agriculture in Western Europe became more focused on self-sufficiency . The agricultural population under feudalism was typically organized into manors consisting of several hundred or more acres of land presided over by
6728-432: The classical and pre-modern sense. The sport of cricket is notably popular in India , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , Nepal and Bangladesh . Within a cricket context, these countries are often referred to simply as the subcontinent around the world e.g. " Australia's tour of the subcontinent". The word is also sometimes used as an adjective in this context e.g. "subcontinental conditions". The Indian subcontinent
6844-502: The colonial period in the early 20th century, further waves of Jat conversions, from Hinduism to Sikhism, continued during the preceding decades. Writing about the Jats of Punjab , the Sikh author Khushwant Singh opined that their attitude never allowed themselves to be absorbed in the Brahminic fold. The British played a significant role in the rise of Sikh Jat population by encouraging Hindu Jats to convert to Sikhism so as to get larger number of Sikh recruits for their army. In Punjab ,
6960-442: The colonial period. During much of this time, non-elite tillers and pastoralists, such as the Jats or Ahirs , were part of a social spectrum that blended only indistinctly into the elite landowning classes at one end, and the menial or ritually polluting classes at the other. During the heyday of Mughal rule, Jats had recognized rights. According to Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf : Upstart warriors, Marathas, Jats, and
7076-468: The cultivation of useful plants, and animal agriculture , the production of agricultural animals. The development of agriculture enabled the human population to grow many times larger than could be sustained by hunting and gathering . Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa , in at least 11 separate centers of origin . Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. In
SECTION 60
#17327657225447192-440: The development of the martial Khalsa panth of Sikhism. By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became an influential group in several parts of North India, including Punjab , Western Uttar Pradesh , Rajasthan , Haryana and Delhi . Over the years, several Jats abandoned agriculture in favour of urban jobs, and used their dominant economic and political status to claim higher social status. On 13 April, International Jat Day
7308-426: The difficulty of passage through the Himalayas, the sociocultural, religious and political interaction of the Indian subcontinent has largely been through the valleys of Afghanistan in its northwest, the valleys of Manipur in its east, and by maritime routes . More difficult but historically important interaction has also occurred through passages pioneered by the Tibetans . These routes and interactions have led to
7424-515: The domestication of squash (Cucurbita) and other plants. Coca was domesticated in the Andes, as were the peanut, tomato, tobacco, and pineapple . Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 3,600 BC. Animals including llamas , alpacas , and guinea pigs were domesticated there. In North America , the indigenous people of the East domesticated crops such as sunflower , tobacco, squash and Chenopodium . Wild foods including wild rice and maple sugar were harvested. The domesticated strawberry
7540-470: The earliest significant historical Sikh figures, and significant numbers of conversions occurred as early as the time of Guru Angad (1504–1552), the first large-scale conversions of Jats is commonly held to have begun during the time of Guru Arjan (1563–1606). While touring the countryside of eastern Punjab, he founded several important towns like Tarn Taran Sahib , Kartarpur , and Hargobindpur which functioned as social and economic hubs, and together with
7656-420: The east to Indus River in the west), Karakoram (from Indus River in the east to Yarkand River in the west) and the Hindu Kush mountains (from Yarkand River westwards) form its northern boundary. In the west it is bounded by parts of the mountain ranges of Hindu Kush , Spīn Ghar (Safed Koh), Sulaiman Mountains , Kirthar Mountains , Brahui range, and Pab range among others, with the Western Fold Belt along
7772-401: The eighth century, Arab writers described agglomerations of Jats, known to them as Zutt , in the arid, the wet, and the mountainous regions of the conquered land of Sindh. The Arab rulers, though professing a theologically egalitarian religion, maintained the position of Jats and the discriminatory practices against them that had been put in place in the long period of Hindu rule in Sind. Between
7888-513: The eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, Jat herders at the Sind migrated up along the river valleys, into the Punjab, which may have been largely uncultivated in the first millennium. Many took up tilling in regions such as western Punjab , where the sakia (water wheel) had been recently introduced. By early Mughal times, in the Punjab, the term "Jat" had become loosely synonymous with "peasant", and some Jats had come to own land and exert local influence. The Jats had their origins in pastoralism in
8004-405: The era of the British Raj. Over time, however, "India" evolved to refer to a distinct political entity that eventually became a nation-state (today the Republic of India). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term subcontinent signifies a "subdivision of a continent which has a distinct geographical, political, or cultural identity" and also a "large land mass somewhat smaller than
8120-432: The farm itself, entire families can be at risk for injuries, illness, and death. Ages 0–6 may be an especially vulnerable population in agriculture; common causes of fatal injuries among young farm workers include drowning, machinery and motor accidents, including with all-terrain vehicles. The International Labor Organization considers agriculture "one of the most hazardous of all economic sectors". It estimates that
8236-430: The forests of New Guinea have few food plants, early humans may have used "selective burning" to increase the productivity of the wild karuka fruit trees to support the hunter-gatherer way of life. The Gunditjmara and other groups developed eel farming and fish trapping systems from some 5,000 years ago. There is evidence of 'intensification' across the whole continent over that period. In two regions of Australia,
8352-479: The geographical strengths of these religions. During the decline of Mughal rule in the early 18th century, the Indian subcontinent 's hinterland dwellers, many of whom were armed and nomadic, increasingly interacted with settled townspeople and agriculturists. Many new rulers of the 18th century came from such martial and nomadic backgrounds. The effect of this interaction on India's social organization lasted well into
8468-422: The greater use of pesticides and fertilizers. Multiple cropping , in which several crops are grown sequentially in one year, and intercropping , when several crops are grown at the same time, are other kinds of annual cropping systems known as polycultures . In subtropical and arid environments, the timing and extent of agriculture may be limited by rainfall, either not allowing multiple annual crops in
8584-558: The imperial lines of communications had by the end of the century spawned a range of petty states linked by marriage alliance and religious practice. The Jats had moved into the Gangetic Plain in two large migrations, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively. They were not a caste in the usual Hindu sense, for example, in which Bhumihars of the eastern Gangetic plain were; rather they were an umbrella group of peasant-warriors. According to Christopher Bayly: This
8700-467: The increased militarization of the Sikh panth following the martyrdom of Guru Arjan (beginning during the era of Guru Hargobind and continuing after) and its large Jat presence may have reciprocally influenced each other. At least eight of the 12 Sikh Misls (Sikh confederacies) were led by Jat Sikhs, who would form the vast majority of Sikh chiefs. According to censuses in gazetteers published during
8816-485: The initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control. According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward". According to Amiya Samanta,
8932-441: The input of nutrients (fertilizer or manure ) and some manual pest control . Annual cultivation is the next phase of intensity in which there is no fallow period. This requires even greater nutrient and pest control inputs. Further industrialization led to the use of monocultures , when one cultivar is planted on a large acreage. Because of the low biodiversity , nutrient use is uniform and pests tend to build up, necessitating
9048-740: The like, as coherent social groups with military and governing ideals, were themselves a product of the Mughal context, which recognized them and provided them with military and governing experience. Their successes were a part of the Mughal success. As the Mughal empire faltered, there were a series of rural rebellions in North India. Although these had sometimes been characterized as "peasant rebellions", others, such as Muzaffar Alam , have pointed out that small local landholders, or zemindars , often led these uprisings. The Sikh and Jat rebellions were led by such small local zemindars, who had close association and family connections with each other and with
9164-476: The lower yield associated with organic farming and its impact on global food security . Recent mainstream technological developments include genetically modified food . By 2015, the agricultural output of China was the largest in the world, followed by the European Union, India and the United States. Economists measure the total factor productivity of agriculture, according to which agriculture in
9280-507: The martial race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait. The Jats participated in both World War I and World War II , as a part of the British Indian Army. In the period subsequent to 1881, when the British reversed their prior anti-Sikh policies, it was necessary to profess Sikhism in order to be recruited to
9396-415: The pastoralist Jats had little exposure to any of the mainstream religions. Only after they became more integrated into the agrarian world did the Jats adopt the dominant religion of the people in whose midst they dwelt. Over time the Jats became primarily Muslim in the western Punjab, Sikh in the eastern Punjab, and Hindu in the areas between Delhi Territory and Agra, with the divisions by faith reflecting
9512-464: The peasants under them, and who were often armed. These communities of rising peasant-warriors were not well-established Indian castes, but rather quite new, without fixed status categories, and with the ability to absorb older peasant castes, sundry warlords, and nomadic groups on the fringes of settled agriculture. The Mughal Empire, even at the zenith of its power, functioned by devolving authority and never had direct control over its rural grandees. It
9628-437: The philosophy and culture of the farmer. Shifting cultivation (or slash and burn ) is a system in which forests are burnt, releasing nutrients to support cultivation of annual and then perennial crops for a period of several years. Then the plot is left fallow to regrow forest, and the farmer moves to a new plot, returning after many more years (10–20). This fallow period is shortened if population density grows, requiring
9744-414: The poorest countries, where alternative livelihoods are not available, and they maintain the intensity of their work in conditions of climate-induced weather shocks and in situations of conflict. Women are less likely to participate as entrepreneurs and independent farmers and are engaged in the production of less lucrative crops. The gender gap in land productivity between female- and male managed farms of
9860-470: The post-independence situation. Through this participation they have been able to significantly influence the politics of North India . Economic differentiation, migration and mobility could be clearly noticed amongst the Jat people. Jats are classified as Other Backward Class (OBC) in seven of India's thirty-six States and UTs , namely Rajasthan , Himachal Pradesh , Delhi , Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh . However, only
9976-440: The production of fish for human consumption in confined operations, is one of the fastest growing sectors of food production, growing at an average of 9% a year between 1975 and 2007. During the second half of the 20th century, producers using selective breeding focused on creating livestock breeds and crossbreeds that increased production, while mostly disregarding the need to preserve genetic diversity . This trend has led to
10092-420: The region is referred to as South Asia. The periphery of the subcontinent, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the island chains of Maldives, features large Muslim populations, while the heartland, including most of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, are overwhelmingly Hindu or Buddhist. Since most of these countries are located on the Indian Plate, a continuous landmass , the borders between countries are often either
10208-461: The region's contemporary political demarcations, is replacing the Indian subcontinent , a term closely linked to the region's colonial heritage, as a cover term, the latter is still widely used in typological studies. Since the Partition of India , citizens of Pakistan (which became independent of British India in 1947) and Bangladesh (which became independent of Pakistan in 1971) often perceive
10324-477: The result of conflict, climate extremes and variability and economic swings. It can also be caused by a country's structural characteristics such as income status and natural resource endowments as well as its political economy. Pesticide use in agriculture went up 62% between 2000 and 2021, with the Americas accounting for half the use in 2021. The International Fund for Agricultural Development posits that an increase in smallholder agriculture may be part of
10440-874: The role that individuals and organizations engaged in agriculture should play. In the United States, agriculture has been identified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as a priority industry sector in the National Occupational Research Agenda to identify and provide intervention strategies for occupational health and safety issues. In the European Union, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has issued guidelines on implementing health and safety directives in agriculture, livestock farming, horticulture, and forestry. The Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA) also holds
10556-478: The salaried agricultural workforce in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal in 2013. In the United States of America, more than half of all hired farmworkers (roughly 450,000 workers) were immigrants in 2019, although the number of new immigrants arriving in the country to work in agriculture has fallen by 75 percent in recent years and rising wages indicate this has led to a major labor shortage on U.S. farms. Around
10672-439: The same size is 24 percent. On average, women earn 18.4 percent less than men in wage employment in agriculture; this means that women receive 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. Progress has been slow in closing gaps in women's access to irrigation and in ownership of livestock, too. Women in agriculture still have significantly less access than men to inputs, including improved seeds, fertilizers and mechanized equipment. On
10788-474: The seventh century, the chief tribal groupings they found were the Jats and the Med people . These Jats are often referred as Zatts in early Arab writings. The Muslim conquest chronicles further point at the important concentrations of Jats in towns and fortresses of Lower and Central Sindh. Today, Muslim Jats are found in Pakistan and India. While followers important to Sikh tradition like Baba Buddha were among
10904-488: The solution to concerns about food prices and overall food security , given the favorable experience of Vietnam. Agriculture provides about one-quarter of all global employment, more than half in sub-Saharan Africa and almost 60 percent in low-income countries. As countries develop, other jobs have historically pulled workers away from agriculture, and labor-saving innovations increase agricultural productivity by reducing labor requirements per unit of output. Over time,
11020-590: The southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by large mountain barriers. Laccadive Islands , Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago are three series of coral atolls , cays and Faroes on the Indian Plate along with the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge , a submarine ridge that was generated by the northern drift of
11136-400: The synthesis of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on an industrial scale, greatly increasing crop yields and sustaining a further increase in global population. Modern agriculture has raised or encountered ecological, political, and economic issues including water pollution , biofuels , genetically modified organisms , tariffs and farm subsidies , leading to alternative approaches such as
11252-444: The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are often used interchangeably to denote the region, the geopolitical term of South Asia frequently includes Afghanistan , which is not considered a part of the subcontinent, while excluding the British Indian Ocean Territory which is geologically associated with the subcontinent. Geologically, the subcontinent originates from Insular India , an isolated landmass that rifted from
11368-471: The total population. In the 20th century and more recently, Jats have dominated as the political class in Haryana and Punjab. Some Jat people have become notable political leaders, including the sixth Prime Minister of India, Charan Singh and the sixth Deputy Prime Minister of India, Chaudhary Devi Lal . Consolidation of economic gains and participation in the electoral process are two visible outcomes of
11484-679: The transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies indicate an initial period of intensification and increasing sedentism ; examples are the Natufian culture in the Levant , and the Early Chinese Neolithic in China. Then, wild stands that had previously been harvested started to be planted, and gradually came to be domesticated. In Eurasia, the Sumerians started to live in villages from about 8,000 BC, relying on
11600-559: The two communities. The claim at that time of Kshatriya status was being made by the Arya Samaj , which was popular in the Jat community. The Arya Samaj saw it as a means to counter the colonial belief that the Jats were not of Aryan descent but of Indo-Scythian origin. During the colonial period, many communities including Hindu Jats were found to be practicing female infanticide in different regions of Northern India. A 1988 study of Jat society pointed out that differential treatment
11716-570: The unavailability of precise statistics in this regard. His estimation is based on a late 1980s population projection of Jats and the population growth of India and Pakistan. He also notes that some estimates put their total population in South Asia at approximately 43 million in 2009. In India, multiple 21st-century estimates put Jats' population share at 20–25% in Haryana state and at 20–35% in Punjab state. In Rajasthan, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh, they constitute around 9%, 5%, and 1.2% respectively of
11832-438: The use of the Indian subcontinent as offensive and suspicious because of the dominant placement of India in the term. As such it is being increasingly less used in those countries. Meanwhile, many Indian analysts prefer to use the term because of the socio-cultural commonalities of the region. The region has also been called the "Asian subcontinent", the "South Asian subcontinent", as well as "India" or " Greater India " in
11948-671: The wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan some 10,500 years ago. Pig production emerged in Eurasia, including Europe, East Asia and Southwest Asia, where wild boar were first domesticated about 10,500 years ago. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca , llamas , alpacas , and guinea pigs . Sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum
12064-744: The world consist of fewer than 2 hectares (4.9 acres), and take up only around 12% of all agricultural land. Farms and farming greatly influence rural economics and greatly shape rural society , affecting both the direct agricultural workforce and broader businesses that support the farms and farming populations. The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods , fibers , fuels , and raw materials (such as rubber ). Food classes include cereals ( grains ), vegetables , fruits , cooking oils , meat , milk , eggs , and fungi . Global agricultural production amounts to approximately 11 billion tonnes of food, 32 million tonnes of natural fibers and 4 billion m of wood. However, around 14% of
12180-781: The world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. In recent years there has been a backlash against the environmental effects of conventional agriculture, resulting in the organic , regenerative , and sustainable agriculture movements. One of the major forces behind this movement has been the European Union , which first certified organic food in 1991 and began reform of its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2005 to phase out commodity-linked farm subsidies, also known as decoupling . The growth of organic farming has renewed research in alternative technologies such as integrated pest management , selective breeding, and controlled-environment agriculture . There are concerns about
12296-664: The world's food is lost from production before reaching the retail level. Modern agronomy , plant breeding , agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers , and technological developments have sharply increased crop yields , but also contributed to ecological and environmental damage . Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal welfare and environmental damage. Environmental issues include contributions to climate change , depletion of aquifers , deforestation , antibiotic resistance , and other agricultural pollution . Agriculture
12412-485: The world, women make up a large share of the population employed in agriculture. This share is growing in all developing regions except East and Southeast Asia where women already make up about 50 percent of the agricultural workforce. Women make up 47 percent of the agricultural workforce in sub-Saharan Africa, a rate that has not changed significantly in the past few decades. However, the Food and Agriculture Organization of
12528-495: The world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. As of 2021 , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than 50 hectares (120 acres) and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres). However, five of every six farms in
12644-621: The world. Production is listed in millions of metric tons, based on FAO estimates. Animal husbandry is the breeding and raising of animals for meat, milk, eggs , or wool , and for work and transport. Working animals , including horses, mules , oxen , water buffalo , camels, llamas, alpacas, donkeys, and dogs, have for centuries been used to help cultivate fields, harvest crops, wrangle other animals, and transport farm products to buyers. Livestock production systems can be defined based on feed source, as grassland-based, mixed, and landless. As of 2010 , 30% of Earth's ice- and water-free area
12760-444: Was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization , whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of
12876-448: Was a society where Brahmins were few and male Jats married into the whole range of lower agricultural and entrepreneurial castes. A kind of tribal nationalism animated them rather than a nice calculation of caste differences expressed within the context of Brahminical Hindu state. By the mid-eighteenth century, the ruler of the recently established Jat kingdom of Bharatpur , Raja Surajmal , felt sanguine enough about durability to build
12992-640: Was domesticated by the Mayo Chinchipe of the upper Amazon around 3,000 BC. The turkey was probably domesticated in Mexico or the American Southwest. The Aztecs developed irrigation systems, formed terraced hillsides, fertilized their soil, and developed chinampas or artificial islands. The Mayas used extensive canal and raised field systems to farm swampland from 400 BC. In South America agriculture may have begun about 9000 BC with
13108-611: Was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia. In Mesoamerica , wild teosinte was bred into maize (corn) from 10,000 to 6,000 years ago. The horse was domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes around 3500 BC. Scholars have offered multiple hypotheses to explain the historical origins of agriculture. Studies of
13224-553: Was formerly part of Gondwana , a supercontinent formed during the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic . Gondwana began to break up during the Mesozoic , with Insular India separating from Antarctica 130-120 million years ago and Madagascar around 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous . Insular India subsequently drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian Plate nearly 55 million years ago, during
13340-684: Was these zemindars who gained most from these rebellions, increasing the land under their control. The triumphant even attained the ranks of minor princes, such as the Jat ruler Badan Singh of the princely state of Bharatpur. In 1669, the Hindu Jats, under the leadership of Gokula , rebelled against the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Mathura . The community came to predominate south and east of Delhi after 1710. According to historian Christopher Bayly Men characterised by early eighteenth century Mughal records as plunderers and bandits preying on
13456-584: Was used for producing livestock, with the sector employing approximately 1.3 billion people. Between the 1960s and the 2000s, there was a significant increase in livestock production, both by numbers and by carcass weight, especially among beef, pigs and chickens, the latter of which had production increased by almost a factor of 10. Non-meat animals, such as milk cows and egg-producing chickens, also showed significant production increases. Global cattle, sheep and goat populations are expected to continue to increase sharply through 2050. Aquaculture or fish farming,
#543456